Football - Houston laments leveller

Dundee United manager Peter Houston was left frustrated by the soft free-kick that led to Aberdeen's equaliser in the 2-2 draw.

The Dons took an early lead through Scott Vernon, but a Gavin Gunning header and a horrific own-goal from Jamie Langfield put the visitors ahead at the break, before Niall McGinn thundered home a free-kick early in the second half to ensure the sides shared the points.

"I think the draw was a fair result, but what has annoyed me is that I didn't think it was a free-kick for the second Aberdeen goal," he said.

"There were loads of similar incidents in the middle of the park, so I don't understand why Jon Daly standing his ground is a free-kick just because it's on the edge of the box.

"Great credit to the players for coming back from 1-0 down again. I felt we looked dangerous on the counter-attack and worked really hard as a team. There were a lot of star performers out there."

Houston handed Aberdeen-born teenager John Souttar his debut for the Arabs, and at 16 years and 99 days, he becomes the youngest player to pull on the Tangerine jersey, taking over a record that had stood since Ian Mitchell made his debut against Hibs in 1962.

"It was forced upon us through injury and suspensions, but I'm never scared to throw young guys in," he said.

"After the first 10 or 15 minutes he played excellently.

"He looked nervous to begin with, playing a lot of 10-yard passes. One of the things he has in him is a 60-yard pass. He'll be a player for Dundee United as a centre-half one day, I rate him that highly.